Summit leaders are tackling the narcotics trade,
writes Jim Wyss in Bogota, Colombia.
As leaders gather in Colombia this weekend for the VI Summit of the Americas, their on-camera discussions will be dominated by perennial convention topics: poverty, co-operation, the need for roads. But behind closed doors, they are expected to tackle a more contentious issue: the narcotics trade.
The 40-year-old war on drugs has cost billions in treasure and countless lives, but has produced mixed results. Drug abuse rates in the US have been virtually unchanged in the past decade, as dips in cocaine use have been offset by rising consumption of marijuana, heroin and methamphetamines.
The US has the highest overdose rates in the world - almost four times higher than Europe, according to the United Nations' 2011 World Drug Report.
And while anti-drug efforts have managed to reduce coca cultivation in Latin America by about one-third in the past decade, global cannabis production remains unchanged.
The war on drugs has also sparked a real war for control of drug routes, turning Central America into the most dangerous region on the planet.
''What has been a complete failure is the idea that reducing the supply - that is, attacking the source countries in Latin America and putting so much law-enforcement energy in the interdiction operation - would lead to a shortage in the consumption countries,'' said Martin Jelsma, the co-ordinator of the Drugs and Democracy Program at the Transnational Institute in the Netherlands. ''There is no way that someone can continue to argue that that is in any way effective.''
In addition to the violence, Latin America's drug war has led to notoriously overcrowded jails, clogged court systems and corruption. And yet the region has resisted looking for alternatives as the US has publicly threatened to punish ideological dissenters.
Most Latin Americans believe US narcotics policies ''makes their drug and crime problems worse'', the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based think tank, wrote in a recent report.
Until recently, the only sitting leaders to seriously question Washington's approach were perennial antagonists such as Bolivia's Evo Morales and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.
Now, some of the US's staunchest allies are sounding the alarm.
The Colombian President, Juan Manuel Santos, who cut his teeth as minister of defence during the height of the drug war, says it's time to have a regional discussion. Mexico's Felipe Calderon, who has seen his country throttled by violence, says the US needs to consider ''market alternatives'' - a code word for legalisation - to control the drug trade.
The debate went into overdrive last month when the Guatemalan President, Otto Perez Molina, a conservative former general, held a summit of Central American leaders to analyse a series of proposals, including creating sanctioned routes that would allow the free flow of cocaine to the north without destabilising nations caught in the middle; some form of decriminalisation; and establishing a Central American court system to exclusively handle drug crimes. Some countries are already going it alone. Argentina's legislature is mulling a bill that would decriminalise drugs and cultivation for personal use.
Uruguay has never criminalised possession of small amounts of narcotics and is drafting legislation to make those protections more explicit.
Meanwhile, a dozen Secret Service agents sent to Colombia to provide security for Mr Obama have been relieved of duty over alleged misconduct involving prostitutes in Cartagena, which is hosting the summit.
Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan would not confirm that prostitution was involved, but there had been ''allegations of misconduct''. Mr Donovan said the allegations were related to activity before the President's arrival on Friday night and did not affect security.
The Miami Herald, Associated Press
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/americas-br ... z1s3yiejss
The never ending war on drugs
The never ending war on drugs
and prostitution....
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: The never ending war on drugs
I'm shocked and stunned, what a great idea, more of the same failed methods of dealing with the issue!US President Barack Obama has said that legalising drugs is not the answer to the problems caused by the trafficking of illegal narcotics in the Americas.
Mr Obama told a gathering of leading executives in Colombia ahead of the Summit of the Americas that legalisation could worsen the problem.
But he said that he was open to a debate about the issue.
The US president was responding to demands by regional leaders for a new drug war strategy.
On Friday, Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina told BBC Mundo that the current strategies against drug trafficking were making the war on drugs unwinnable.
"We call for a responsible, serious dialogue in which we scientifically analyse what is happening with the war on drugs", he said.
President Obama said the answer to the increasing power of drug cartels in the hemisphere was to encourage societies with strong economics, rule of law, and a sound law enforcement infrastructure.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: The never ending war on drugs
Did you really expect the latest lap dog of our military/industrial complex to state anything different or come with any new ideas?
Both the so-called law enforcement people and the trafficers are making tons of money.
Take the profit out of it via legalization/de-criminalization.
Treat drug addiction as a medical problem rather than a criminal one.
What we are doing now borders on the insane.
Both the so-called law enforcement people and the trafficers are making tons of money.
Take the profit out of it via legalization/de-criminalization.
Treat drug addiction as a medical problem rather than a criminal one.
What we are doing now borders on the insane.
Your collective inability to acknowledge this obvious truth makes you all look like fools.
yrs,
rubato
Re: The never ending war on drugs
But that's what the agents were doing! Hypocrisy or what?The US Secret Service prostitution scandal involved as many as 20 women, 11 American agents and some military personnel, senior US officials say.
Senator Susan Collins, briefed by the Secret Service director, said 20 women were found at the US hotel.
The incidents took place in Cartagena, Colombia, ahead of last weekend's Summit of the Americas.
On Monday, the head of the US armed forces said the Secret Service and the military had "let the boss down".
Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan was "rightly appalled by the agents' actions and is pursuing a vigorous internal investigation", Ms Collins said in a statement.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: The never ending war on drugs
The drug issue is not an easy one (if it were, problem would have been solved). If you liberalize drugs, there will be a substantial increase in drug use, which will lead to an increase in problems and costs associated with drug addicts. If you look back to Prohibition, there was a very large reduction in drinking and alcohol related problems during this time. However, the costs of Prohibition were judged too great, compared to the improved health benefits and loss of liberty from outlawing production of alcohol. Would be interesting to see how the recent liberalization of marijuana rules will work out. Could be a test case for a greater expansion of legalized drugs.
Re: The never ending war on drugs
Yeah, Long Run...........................if Obama's DEA stormtroopers would leave us alone in California, it would be an interesting long-term study as far as marijuna is concerned.
The "Noble Experiment" proved to be a costly faliure.
The "Noble Experiment" proved to be a costly faliure.
Your collective inability to acknowledge this obvious truth makes you all look like fools.
yrs,
rubato
Re: The never ending war on drugs
More people are killing themselves with food than with drugs in this country; when will we start a War on Big Food?
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan
~ Carl Sagan
Re: The never ending war on drugs
I get your drift, bsg.
But I don't welcome a time when DEA agents bash in my front door because I'm chomping down on a BigMac.
But I don't welcome a time when DEA agents bash in my front door because I'm chomping down on a BigMac.
Your collective inability to acknowledge this obvious truth makes you all look like fools.
yrs,
rubato
Re: The never ending war on drugs
WASHINGTON: The official motto of the US Secret Service is ''Worthy of trust and confidence''. After a party involving - at last count - 20 government employees and 21 Colombian prostitutes, its unofficial slogan ''Wheels up, rings off,'' is now far better known.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/us-secret-s ... z1sQh3v2j0
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: The never ending war on drugs
The military has stated because of this incident several members were jerked...
Sometimes it seems as though one has to cross the line just to figger out where it is
Re: The never ending war on drugs
Well it all came to a sticky end for them.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”